


a heart will always go one step too far

by trainerlyra



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, Akechi Goro Needs a Hug, And Gets One, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Kiss, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, LMAO, Not Beta Read, Persona 5: The Royal, Post-Canon, Reunions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24759061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainerlyra/pseuds/trainerlyra
Summary: Sumire and Akechi meet again, unexpectedly.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Yoshizawa Sumire
Comments: 43
Kudos: 106





	a heart will always go one step too far

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, this isn't the fic I had planned to finish first, but here it is. Ending was decided upon by some good friends, lmao, so you have them to thank for it. Idk what it is about these two that makes me write so much, but this was only intended to be around 3k. It's not even close LOL. Anyways, I hope you enjoy some more AkeSumi goodness! This time a lot less angsty, for once, lmao.

It took a few months for things to really break apart after Ren Amamiya had returned to his hometown for his final year of high school.

Sumire was almost expecting things to happen faster, since she had never really been apart of the Phantom Thieves the same way Ann or Ryuji had been apart from the start. She'd come to her abilities during one of their most difficult times, had decided she couldn't agree with their methods, and only agreed to join them after it started to effect _her_. It was a fact that she lived with every day, and something that definitely kept her from feeling like she was their equal.

The only member besides Ren that she had ever formed that much of an attachment to was dead, anyways. Goro Akechi did not come back after the final showdown with Dr. Maruki, and he didn't come back in the weeks or months following that while Ren spent his time in prison. He didn't even come back when Ren had left prison, or when Ren left Tokyo.

She was finally starting to accept that he _wouldn't_ be coming back at all. He was dead - dead like Kasumi, like the sister she'd loved and hated so fiercely in so many different ways. It was a hard pill to swallow.

Slowly, after Ren left, the rest of the Phantom Thieves began breaking off. Haru and Makoto were the first to stop contacting the group chat as often - or almost the first. Ren had stopped replying in the group chat the day after he'd let them know he'd safely arrived back home. He contacted each of the Phantom Thieves individually, but never in the chat they all used to use.

Haru struggled balancing college and running her father's company. Makoto, too, began to lose herself in her studies; finding law enforcement stricter than the ex-student council president had been prepared for. Yusuke, as well, had stopped contacting the group as often. His art had finally taken off, and he was putting his skills to the test out in the real world.

Sumire wasn't blameless, either, though she had never felt as integral as the rest. She was traveling a lot, always on the go to improve and compete as she struggled to achieve her and her sister's dream. It left little time to be social and reply to things as quickly as she would've initially, back when they were all still healing.

It hurt, more than she'd expected it to. The Phantom Thieves were her last living connection to Goro Akechi, and the fact that she no longer saw them as the group they once were made his death feel more real. She was sure if she were to reach out to them, they would all still care, but it wasn't the _same_.

So much had changed in so little time. Sumire never forgot, however. She doubted she ever could. While the Metaverse had really, truly been destroyed, she could still feel her Persona inside of her. The spirit of Ella, her final awakening, burned brightly in her heart still. When she took to the gym floor or even when she needed a little extra push out of bed on a random morning, Ella was there.

Even if she wasn't, Sumire doubted she could forget the time she spent with the Phantom Thieves. Ren had always been someone who had made her feel like she could do more, but Goro Akechi had been something else. She'd remembered him, vaguely, from when she was younger. He had seemed friendly enough, and she remembered watching him on TV when his popularity first began to grow. There had always been something off about him, something that she felt he wasn't showing to the world, and after spending time with what Ren had dubbed the _real_ Akechi, Sumire finally had started to understand.

In some ways, they were similar. More similar than Sumire had at first cared to admit. They had both lived their lives as fakes for far, far too long. She wasn't surprised when Akechi had shifted moods quickly, often violently, back during their days traversing through Dr. Maruki's Palace.

He was now allowed to live as himself with no consequences, after all. How was he supposed to know how to act? Sumire sure didn't. She constantly channeled Kasumi, constantly went through the motions until she settled on something that felt _right_. Akechi had likely been doing the same.

Like right now. She was stretching, getting ready for training, but it was just the motions today. There was no passion or care behind her movements. No doubt her coach noticed, with the way she would frown at her with every new stretch.

"What's on your mind today, Yoshizawa?" Hiraguchi asked her, eyes narrowing at her. As if she could intimidate the answers out of her anymore.

Sumire hadn't grown the confidence of her sister, no. But she had grown to find people less scary. Now that she'd been inside their heads, she knew she had nothing to be afraid of. "Sorry, coach," she said instead of giving her a straight answer, pushing her stretch a bit deeper as some sort of appeasement. "It's just one of those days, I think."

It was an excuse she used every so often, ever since she'd finally accepted that she was Sumire and not Kasumi. Losing your twin sister was not something people had to deal with every day, and it generally was all it took to get people off her back. Part of her almost felt bad about using her sister's death, however vaguely, to lie to her coach. Though it wasn't exactly a lie that she _was_ still mourning.

She was just mourning someone completely different. Someone she probably didn't have much of a right to mourn in the first place, considering how well she actually really knew him.

Her coach gave her a small smile. "Let's do our best for her today, yeah?"

Words that were once comforting made Sumire almost wince. "Yeah," she agreed, despite her throat feeling like it was full of sand.

* * *

"Why don't you grab something to eat on your way back today?" Coach Hiraguchi asked her, watching with careful eyes as Sumire packed herself up.

Over the last six months or so, she'd improved her technique considerably. She was, for the most part, able to preform as herself instead of as a shadow of her sister. No longer was she imitating Kasumi, but truly finding what parts of gymnastics _she_ liked best, what _she_ needed to work on. Where her balance got shaky, where her form needed practice.

There were still days, however, when Sumire fell back into old habits. Where she'd just push herself to the point of exhaustion, not really caring about whether she was channeling her own energy or her sister's confidence and aggression.

Today, judging by the way Hiraguchi looked at her, was one of those days. Her mind had been wandering too much. "My dad doesn't really like me wandering about on my own," Sumire said with a small, forced smile.

While it wasn't a lie, it wasn't a total truth. He didn't like it, but he also understood. She was in Osaka at the moment. It wasn't quite as bad as a foreign country, Sumire supposed, but it wasn't exactly much better. The last time she'd seen her father was two months ago.

Hiraguchi's expression hardened. "Sumire," she said, speaking as plainly as possible. "You need to take care of yourself if you want to reach the top." It was a speech she'd heard at least a thousand times, but it didn't make it any easier to hear. She looked down, ashamed. "Go take a breather and get yourself some good food before heading back to the hotel, okay?"

What Sumire _really_ wanted to do was to go back to her hotel room, curl up in a ball, and maybe text Ren and hope for a response. Maybe look up some of Akechi's old interviews online, if she was really deep in her feelings. She had a feeling that Hiraguchi wasn't going to let her hear the end of it if that's what she did, however.

With a sigh, Sumire nodded. "Okay, Coach," she said, tightening her grip on her gym bag. "I'll go get something tasty, but I'm sure I'll be back at a hundred percent tomorrow!"

At Hiraguchi's nod, she turned around, leaving the large college gym behind her. Maybe her coach was right - maybe a change of pace would do more help than harm today.

Opening up the maps app on her new phone, she found there was a small cafe not too far from the gym. It was a short walk, and then a few stops away from her hotel by subway. Not too out of her way.

Nodding to herself, Sumire started out, following her phone closely. Now that she was on her way, she was actually almost looking forward to it. She could use a little pastry or something.

* * *

In all honesty, Goro wasn't quite sure what happened when he woke up. He wasn't sure where he was, or how long he'd been out for, or anything of use. All he knew is that one second, he was sure he was dead, and the next he was being yanked out of a prison cell and being told it was time for his court date.

It felt oddly similar to when he'd first woken up in Maruki's alternate reality. So similar, in fact, Goro was instantly on edge; eyes analyzing anything and everything said and done to spot any differences between reality and something else. However, over the next two weeks of going in and out of court, he found none. None at all.

That was honestly the most frightening thing of all.

Goro had been prepared to die. Really, he strove for it in a sense. There was nothing left for him in reality. No father to best, no mother to love, no rival to work against and with. No Metaverse, though he could still feel Hereward deep in his soul. Any purpose Goro had before for existing had been annihilated, and now he was left with the scraps.

When he was finally allowed out and his charged dropped, he had considered texting the Phantom Thieves. Allowing them to know that he had somehow, despite all odds, come back to life. It had been months and months, though, and he wondered what good it would do.

It wasn't as if he cared about them or vice versa. The only who he was sure _might_ care at all would've been Ren, and Goro wasn't sure if he would ever be ready to face his old rival again.

So be it, he'd decided. He had other things he wanted to do. Other things he wanted to accomplish. Plus keeping a low profile would be good for him, Goro thought. It had been a long time since he'd achieved fame in Tokyo as the Detective Prince. Living life as a normal, average citizen was something he never thought he'd get a chance to do.

Whether or not he deserved that chance was a question for another day. Now as a free man, with a large amount of money left for him by his bastard father, Goro figured moving far, far away from Tokyo was a good start.

* * *

While Osaka wasn't Tokyo, it was still a city. The bustle that used to drive him crazy now felt comforting, in some ways. Goro still disliked almost everyone he met, but it was… nice, in a way, knowing that there were so many people around that didn't know him. That had no idea who the Detective Prince was anymore and certainly didn't care that some kid with his face and part of his name lived there now.

Forging his way into a college hadn't been difficult, nor were the classes he'd been taking. Law and Psychology were easy subjects for him, considering, and it took all his willpower not to just drop out and try for a job with no credentials. Maybe in Tokyo that would've flown with a name drop, but somewhere else? On a clean slate?

Not likely.

So instead, Goro suffered. At least he was alone. At least he was able to live, for the first time in his life. And if some nights, when the silence of his small apartment seemed somehow louder than scramble crossing in Shibuya, he would type out messages to certain ex-Phantom Thief members and then delete them, that was alright. If he dreamed often about a girl with bright red hair who actually looked at him like she could _see_ _him_ , that was alright, too.

He was getting better at dealing with it.

Of course, though, Goro should've known that his peace couldn't last forever. Nothing in his life ever did, after all.

* * *

When Sumire opened the door to the cafe, she blinked once, twice, three times. The line wasn't long, the menu was fairly normal, but her eye was caught immediately by a familiar bob of brown hair. Sumire blinked again, trying to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

When the image of Goro Akechi in the back of the cafe didn't disappear, and instead only got clearer as she forced herself to focus, it took everything in her not to scream. Instead of screaming, she dropped her bag and phone with a loud clatter to the floor, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth.

Shock was probably the most appropriate word for the situation, but that didn't fully cover it. There were too many emotions that her brain kept flipping between that she didn't know what to settle on.

The noise from her dropping her things unceremoniously at the end of the line attracted the attention of most, if not all, the customers currently sitting inside the quiet cafe. The one pair of eyes that Sumire refused to look away from, however, were almost as red as her hair. Akechi stared directly at her, unblinking for what felt like hours. As the normal shuffle of the cafe slowly came back into focus, Akechi's eyes moved from her own back to his computer, without so much as a second glance.

Again, Sumire blinked. Once, twice, three times, before slowly bending down and picking up her things. Her face burned with embarrassment. For a moment, Sumire thought that maybe she should pretend that this never happened. That she never saw him, or that somehow it was her mind playing tricks on her - it wasn't _really_ Akechi. It was just because he'd been on her mind so much lately, that was all.

But her feet couldn't do it. Even if her mind and her heart wanted her to run away, or just be happy that he had somehow survived at _all_ , her body seemed to have a mind of its own. She watched as her feet moved forward, one step at a time, until she was finally standing in front of someone she had long thought dead.

For another agonizingly long moment, neither of them spoke. Akechi had glanced at her briefly when she'd gotten to his table, but she hadn't sat down. His typing seemed to have slowed, but she could barely focus on anything enough to try and piece together what that could mean. Her eyes moved over him slowly, trying to take it all in.

He looked so much the same as he did back then. Back in January, when everything was falling apart around them and it was up to the Phantom Thieves - again - to put it all back together. On that night in February, when they had finally succeeded in taking Dr. Maruki's heart, he had looked almost… sad, to Sumire. Sad, but determined.

He had known. He and Ren had both known that he wouldn't be coming back.

Her mouth seemed to move on its own, much like her body had to get her there. "You're alive," was all she said, the words more falling out of her mouth than anything else. Her bag was placed gently down next to the table, her phone finding its way into her pocket.

She couldn't remember the last time she felt this detached from her own body. Probably while she was still believing she was her dead sister.

Akechi, however, barely even paused in his work. "Certainly seems that way," he agreed, eyes only flicking to hers for the briefest of moments.

It sounded just like him, Sumire thought. So blase and uncaring, though she knew deep down there was _something_ there. Something still inside his heart that he had a hard time letting out. Just hearing his voice, though, and processing it as really _him_ was enough to make her burst into tears.

She'd always been a crier, she supposed. She didn't even bother trying to contain it or hide herself - she'd already made a scene in the cafe and it wasn't like she'd be in town for more than another week, anyways.

Thinking like that just made her cry harder. She'd finally found Akechi, managed to find him _alive_ , and now she knew she would have to go. It was almost to much to bear.

Across from her, Akechi cursed, slamming his laptop shut and pushing it into his bag in one smooth motion. Through her tears, she managed to see him grab both his bag and her own. Before she could question him, his free hand grabbed her wrist tightly and he was pulling her out the door of the cafe.

She could barely make out any of the words he was throwing out under his breath. In one moment, her entire world had been flipped upside down. Her vision was akin to a watercolor painting as she followed him behind the cafe, far enough away from people that they could have a smidge of privacy in the crowded city.

"I thought you were _dead_ ," Sumire said, hands tightening into fists at her side once he'd let go of her. She hadn't cried like this in a long, long time. "I- why didn't you _tell anyone_?"

Through her tears, she watched Akechi scowl. "As if it would've mattered to any of you." His words were clipped; just as angry as she remembered them. Even hearing him be rude again to her was like a dream come true. It meant he was _real_. "Do you really think it would've made any kind of difference if I waltzed back into Leblanc after everything? Because I don't."

Sumire wiped at her eyes, wanting to see him with clarity. "Of course it would've made a difference," she told him softly. She wondered if he could even hear her over the sounds of the city. "I never stopped wondering about you, never stopped thinking if you had somehow made it out alright." Her words grew a little louder, a little more confident as she spoke; she was glad to finally be getting this off her chest.

Had she known, somehow, that she would meet him again today? Had some part of her, however deep and buried, knew he was in the city? Sumire wasn't sure, but she was glad for it all the same. Months and months of grief and mourning could not be quickly undone, but the relief was overwhelming. Since she'd first walked into that cafe, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off him for more than a moment.

She was still terrified it was a dream. That he would somehow disappear right out from under her. She would not let that happen again.

When Akechi didn't say respond, Sumire breathed in deep before continuing. There were so many feelings she had to sort through still. Laying them all down at once onto a man she'd considered dead for months on end didn't seem right, but they had been trapped inside her for so long with no place to go.

"Did you not realize that we cared about you?" She asked slowly, studying him carefully. "Did you think they all hated you? Even if they did, why would I- I mean-" Sumire cut herself off, shaking her head so quickly her ponytail hit her cheeks. "It doesn't matter. I… Akechi-senpai, I'm just so glad you're alright."

The scowl on Akechi's face slowly gave way to what could only be described as shock. Whatever he'd been thinking about, whatever his reasoning for not talking to any of them had been, he clearly wasn't so sure of it anymore. Sumire wasn't good at reading people - not like he had always been - but even she knew how hard it had been for him to fit in with the other Phantom Thieves. Maybe he really _had_ been convinced that none of them would care that he was alive, Sumire realized.

The thought alone made her heart drop into her stomach. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face into his chest to the best of her ability. Her face was still wet with tears and she knew she was transferring that to his clothes, but Sumire couldn't find it in her to care. The only thing that mattered right then and there was to show Akechi how much she had missed him - how much she _cared_.

He was alive. He was _alive_. She repeated those words to herself like a mantra, clutching at his shirt with her hands as she tried to be as close to him as possible.

This wasn't really for her, but she couldn't deny how nice it felt to hold him. To feel again that he was _real_ , that he was in front of her, and this wasn't some daydream hallucination her sleep deprived mind had created.

What she was not expecting, however, was for Akechi to slowly wrap his arms around her back. She grew still as he moved, waiting to see what he would do. Even her breathing stilled. When he'd finally fully encompassed her, she squeezed harder, surprised to find him returning the favor.

Unexpected, yes, but not something she would ever dare complain about. She opened her mouth to say something else to him, but clamped it shut as soon as she felt something hit her hair. Almost like a raindrop, but not quite.

Sumire didn't dare look up from Akechi's chest as she felt it again. Instead, she continued trying to hold Akechi as tightly as she possible could, letting him know that she was there.

She was there, and she wasn't going anywhere. As she whispered this to him, his own arms grew tighter around her, pulling her in as close as she could go. His face found the top of her head, and just as he had let her cry into his chest, she would let him cry into her hair for as long as he needed.

Outside, Osaka continued to move, no matter how much Sumire wish time would freeze on this moment. If even only just for a second. Just so she could memorize the way it felt to be in his arms, the way he sounded when finally letting out the emotions he'd kept locked up for so long.

The rewriting of her memory of him simply being _gone_ would take a long time, after all. It would be nice to have something to fall back on.

* * *

It took another twenty minutes for them to find their way into the cafe once again, this time sitting down at a table properly with drinks and a pastry for Sumire. It was just a small tart, as after all that crying she wasn't feeling very hungry. It was just a good excuse to sit down with Akechi for as much time as she could.

"Let's try this again," Akechi said, startling her out of her thoughts. "I'm alive, I survived, I didn't say anything to anyone. Are you going to tell the others?" His words were punctuated by the narrowing of his eyes.

Sumire didn't look away, though. "I think you should tell them yourself," she replied after a moment, "but I don't want to keep them in the dark. It wasn't just me who was upset - it was all of us."

Even Haru and Futaba, who had struggled the most with their feelings towards Akechi, had mourned for him. She remembered very clearly the tears they had both shed the last time they talked about it. Whatever Akechi had expected them to feel about him was at least somewhat in his head.

Sumire could admit that they had their differences, and that some of the Phantom Thieves had grown extremely wary of him after his attempt to kill Ren. It was natural, of course, and she blamed absolutely none of them for having those thoughts. But Akechi was, really, just like the rest of them. Manipulated by cruel adults his entire life and just looking for a way out.

In that sense, _she_ had always been the odd one out. Dr. Maruki had never intended to hurt her with his therapy. It had been for her benefit, and hers alone.

"Fine," Akechi agreed after taking a slow sip of his coffee. She watched carefully as he winced, smiling a bit at that. In the back of her mind, she wondered if it wasn't sweet enough for him. "Next: why are you even _here_?"

"Oh!" That was at least something she could answer easily. "I've been traveling to various places to work with different coaches alongside Coach Hiraguchi. If I limit myself to one place, I'll never beat out the competition. I've been going all over the country." She smiled again, moving her gaze down to her food.

Akechi was quiet again for a minute, and she let him take everything in. Earlier, Sumire knew she'd been a bit selfish. It was probably a lot for him to take in, too. "How long are you here for?" His words sounded strained, almost as if it took all his might to force them past his lips.

 _Oh_ , Sumire realized with a start. _So it wasn't just a fluke_. "I'm only in Osaka for a few more days," she told him honestly, unable to look at him again. "But I have a new phone, so I can actually call you now, and…" Trailing off awkwardly, she wasn't sure what else to say. It was true that now that she'd found him again, she wanted Akechi to be in her life.

She'd always wanted that, really. But that decision was ultimately up to him. He'd originally chosen to stay out of everyone's way, without even a text or a letter or _something_ to let them know he was alive and he'd moved on. Would he chose that again, now that he knew she wouldn't be there forever? That their meeting truly was random? Sumire wasn't sure, and she'd grown enough to admit and embrace the fact that it scared her; to put it into his hands and his alone.

She wouldn't take the choice away from him, however. If he wanted to talk to her again after this, to _any_ of them again after this, he should be allowed to make that choice. It would be hard, but her heart already felt lighter just knowing he was alive and trying to live his own life now. There were no more setbacks, nothing more preventing Akechi from doing what he wanted to do. Sumire hadn't been around to see what his father had done directly, but Ren and the others had told her enough.

He deserved to be happy, Sumire knew. And that meant he also deserved the option to figure out his own happiness. With or without her and the other Phantom Thieves.

"Fine." Without hesitation, Akechi pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Update your contact."

Blinking, Sumire stared at his phone for a minute, before laughing into her hand. "Senpai, it's the same number," she said, feeling like the pressure that had been sitting on her heart since he didn't return was finally lifting. "You can call me anytime."

They grew quiet once again, Akechi pocketing his phone once more and Sumire finally biting into the tart she'd ordered. There was still so much she wanted to say to him, so much she wanted to ask him - what had he been doing all this time? Was he finally learning to enjoy life? Was he happy? Had he missed them at all? Had he missed _her_? - but for the moment, she was content to sit in the silence and just… commit him to memory. Her brain was still having a hard time keeping up that this wasn't a dream or a ghost. This was real, he was alive, and she would repeat it back to herself as many times as she needed.

"I'm glad I ran into you," Sumire said after a minute, finally looking back at him. "I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I really missed you so much, Senpai. You - I…" Sumire took a deep breath, trying to figure out what words she could say that wouldn't overwhelm him. Her face warmed, but she pushed on. "You're really important to me," she settled on, content with what that would convey.

For all of Akechi's sharpened edges and cold looks, Sumire didn't think he'd ever looked softer after she'd said that. Even the perpetual scowl he seemed to have let go, making way for the smallest, but perhaps most genuine, smile she'd ever seen. "I know," he told her, and just like that, the look was gone. "I got that from the fact that I had to drag you out of here as soon as you recognized me."

All bark, no bite. Sumire couldn't help her smile. "Sorry about that," she apologized, feeling weightless. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to cause a scene."

"Whatever. It doesn't particularly matter." He finished off his coffee, crushing the paper cup in his hand. "What are you going to do now?" The way he looked at her as he spoke made her wonder if he wanted her to ask _him_ that, since he'd been the one asking all the questions.

Sumire turned to face the window. "I'll keep up with my training until I'm satisfied with my skills," she said, thinking about how far ahead in the future he meant. "And then when I'm ready, I'll return to Tokyo, I think. Going to all these different places has been nice, but I miss everything back home." Mostly, she really missed the familiarity and the people that had started to fade from her life. "What about you?" She asked, still not facing him. Her nerves were really getting to her. "Have you decided yet, Akechi-senpai?"

Her heart hammered in her chest at the possibilities. Maybe he'd want to stay in Osaka. Maybe he'd move somewhere completely different, realizing that once she left the area she'd have no way of finding him again if he didn't reach out first. She didn't want to even imagine the best case scenario, lest she get hurt when he decided otherwise.

"I think I'll find a place for rent in Tokyo," Akechi said definitively, leaving no room for questions. "It seems like there's still something there for me after all."

* * *

Outside of the shop once again, Sumire was hesitant to go her own way. Meeting Akechi certainly wasn't how she was expecting her evening to go, and though she'd gotten a text from Coach Hiraguchi, she wasn't ready to let go of him yet. She still had a little bit in Osaka, yes, but leaving him made it almost seem like it had never happened at all.

"Should I come back here tomorrow after practice?" Sumire asked, trying to find any reason she could to stay and talk to him for longer.

It took a moment, but Akechi nodded slowly. "I'm not going to apologize," he said instead of giving her a real answer. "So don't expect one."

Sumire blinked, before giving a nod of her own. "I wasn't expecting one, Senpai," she said with a smile. In the past, hearing something like that might've made her sad. It probably would've been something she dwelled on for weeks, wondering why someone would say that to her.

Now, she could hear that and understand that was just Akechi. That was just his way of speaking, his way of dealing with himself and his own feelings. He wasn't good at talking about things, and he wasn't good at being honest. Sumire had grown enough not to take it to heart. One day, it would be nice if he could be honest with her for more than a small amount of time, but for now, she was too happy that he had the chance to grow at all to hold it against him.

And that was okay with her. She'd long since accepted that the Akechi she knew originally versus the Akechi she'd known during her time with the Phantom Thieves were two completely different people, and the real Akechi sat somewhere in between. She felt similarly about herself, too. Her existence now was taken from all different parts of her - parts of the original Sumire, parts of the Kasumi she had tried so hard to be, and parts of the Sumire who grew stronger from that experience. She wouldn't hold it against him, just as she'd learned to forgive herself.

Completely lost in thought, Sumire almost didn't notice when Akechi took a step towards her, his hands slightly shaking at his sides. She looked up at him, curious, when he didn't do anything else. He just… stood there, in her space, and Sumire felt her cheeks get warmer and warmer the longer he looked at her.

When she was younger, she had noticed how attractive Goro Akechi was, much like every girl in her class once he'd gotten famous. It was hard to look at him and not notice, back then; with his soft features and charming smile. He wasn't that much older than her, but the fact that he _was_ older and was that much more experienced in the ways of life than her had been appealing to her, back then. It wasn't difficult to admit that was still true, though the soft, princely features she'd noticed had given way to the sharper, more defined looks and angles he seemed to prefer now.

Simply put, Akechi was beautiful. It wasn't a word she'd usually use to describe a man, but she wasn't sure what else to call it. Handsome didn't seem to cover it.

Staring up into his eyes, when she could feel his breath fan out over her face was certainly doing something to her. Her stomach felt like it had tied itself into a knot.

"Can I kiss you?" She blurted out, too quick to drag the words back to her mouth. Her already warm face turned beet red as she processed what, exactly, she had just said.

Akechi, however, didn't glare at her or anything of the sort. Instead, his lips twisted upwards for a fraction of a second. "If you must," he said, but it didn't sound angry or even disappointed. It was more like he didn't know how to say _yes,_ with the way he slowly moved in impossibly closer to her and closed his eyes.

Truthfully, Sumire didn't even know why she'd asked. She'd kissed maybe three people in her lifetime, and one of them had been a friend back in middle school for practice. She'd dug herself into the hole, though, and now she would live with it. Taking a deep breath, she slammed her eyes shut as soon as her lips touched Akechi's.

They were much softer than she'd been expecting. Tentatively, her hands found his, and she gripped them tightly. When he squeezed her back, she smiled into the kiss, before finally parting.

If she'd thought Akechi was beautiful before, just from standing near her, this must've been the most beautiful he'd ever looked. His face was slightly flushed, and his eyes refused to move from her lips, staring at her as if he wasn't sure what had just happened. A sentiment she could agree with.

"You should go now," Akechi said after a moment, though he hadn't let go of her hands yet. "I'll be here tomorrow."

It was a dismissal if there ever was one, but neither of them wanted to leave just yet. Their hands were still clasped tightly together, and they were still breathing the same air.

"Okay," Sumire practically whispered, a bit dazed. "And then once I leave, you can come find me this time, Senpai. In Tokyo." Maybe it was a bit selfish, after everything that he had given her today, but she wanted to hear him say it again. Just once more before she left.

To her surprise, Akechi nodded. "If I must," he said, a crooked smile forming on his lips. "Don't keep me waiting."

She wouldn't dare.

**Author's Note:**

> and there we go! thank you all for reading, as always. i hope this ship gets more popular soon cries, i love them so much, they deserve the WORLD.  
> also super big shout out to rowan & red for listening to me cry about this fic and voting on the ending for me. now y'all have to bully me bc it's way longer than it was supposed to be tho pff  
> thanks again for your love and support tho guys, ily both a ton


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